Betrayal
by Yellowwolf
Summary: Things start go bad when Jim has a dream. Can friendship survive another disaster or will Blair leave? Completed at last!


**Disclaimer: **I do not own them nor do I make money with this story.

**Author's note: **Here finally is the complete version of this story. I must say it turned out a bit different then what I wanted it to become but I'm satisfied with it. This story for the biggest part was unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. Enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------

_He's running through the forest, fast as if he's looking for something. Then he sees it, his prey, the wolf, running not so far from him. It has no care in the world because it doesn't know what's going to happen. He takes an arrow and puts it in his crossbow. Where's the wolf? He's lost it. He looks left and right. There it is behind those trees. He aims his crossbow at the wolf and shoots off the arrow. He hears the sound of the arrow flying through the air before it lands where it should: deep in the wolf. The wolf howls and falls down, all life drained. Then he sees it: the wolf's turning into a human. _

_The wolf **is** Blair._

Jim sat up with a start, sweat dripping from his forehead. He wiped it away as he tried to control his breathing. _Not again._ The last time he had this dream, vision, whatever, Blair died. He isn't dead but he did die at the fountain. A year ago… It seemed longer but Jim remembered the day as if it were yesterday. So much had happened since then. The press conference for one. Another one of those it-seemed-yesterday days. Blair gave up his life… for him… to protect him. Even after everything he'd done, Blair still protected him, helped him, guided him. And then there was the cop thing. Blair was now a cop and his **official** partner which meant Blair had to learn how to handle a gun and he couldn't tell Blair to stay put anymore because the stubborn idiot wouldn't listen. Then again, had Blair ever listened to a word he said while on the job? No. Absolutely not.

They never talked about what happened back there at the fountain and in Sierra Verde. Blair came after him to help him while he should be in bed resting and what does he do? He shoves his tongue down Alex's throat… twice. Yeah, that was definitely his most brilliant move ever. He betrayed his friend by kissing the girl that killed him. Of course that's typical him. When he does one thing to hurt his guide, everything seems to go downhill and yet Blair didn't give up on him. He owed Blair so much and the only thing he does, is hurting him. He always managed to hurt the people that meant most to him. Story of his live.

He should probably discuss this vision thing with Blair before stuff got out of hand again. A glance at his clock told him it was only three am. Blair was going to kill him but this was important. After he put on his pants, he made his way downstairs and over to Blair's room. He could hear Blair's snoring, indicating the younger man was fast asleep. Well, not for long. He entered the room and sat on the side of the bed.

" Blair, wake up." Jim said, shaking his shoulder's lightly. Blair mumbled something like 'go away' and turned his back to Jim.

" Come on, Chief. This is important." Jim tried. Blair was up at once, looking at him worried.

" What? What's wrong? Your senses?" Blair asked, sounding very awake.

" Sort of. Let's go to the living room. Talks easier." Jim suggested.

Blair was up before Jim could blink, very curious about what Jim had to say. He sat down on the couch, knees pulled up to his chest and looking up at the now pacing sentinel in front of him. Blair decided to wait until Jim would talk. He shivered. He should've put on some clothing because sitting here in his boxers was pretty cold.

" I had that dream again, where I shot the wolf which turned into you." Jim started after a couple of minutes. He took place on the couch next to his partner.

" Whoa, wait a minute. You never told me about that dream." Blair exclaimed.

" I didn't?" He quickly told Blair what it was about. "I had the dream before I threw you out and that was also the reason why."

" Hmm." Blair started pacing. " It does make sense. That was when Alex showed up so my guess is you're dream was more like a vision warning you that something would happen to me. Come to think of it, the vision can have several explanations and they all make sense." Blair said. Jim leaned back against the couch and looked at the pacing man in front of him.

" Care to enlighten me?" Blair briefly stopped pacing to look at Jim with a thoughtful expression before resuming his pacing and speech.

" For one, the killing the wolf could indicate the throwing me out. It could mean that you were closing off a chapter, banning me out of your life **but** the fountain changed that. Which brings me to my next point: the vision can also warn you that you're gonna betray me again like you did with Alex."

Jim winced at the words but Blair continued before Jim could defend himself.

" So killing the wolf ,or in other words me, could indicate something like stabbing me in the back."

Jim winced again. Talking to Blair when he was half asleep was obviously not a good idea. But then again, Blair was finally talking about what he felt during that whole thing. Blair, again, continued before Jim could speak.

" Then as third point, it could mean I'll get killed again not necessarily because of something you did but because we run into another criminal, sentinel whatever. Either way, it is a warning. It tries to warn you… us to be careful. If it means one of those three things, I'll end up getting hurt either emotionally or physically. Maybe you weren't meant to bring me back last time. Because of this Sentinel thing, you interfered with destiny and brought me back."

" Okay, that all makes perfect sense but let's say, I'll betray you again, then we can stop it right?" Jim asked. The last thing he wanted to do was betray Blair again because that could be the last straw, the final thing that their friendship could take. Blair once again stopped pacing to think until he reached a conclusion.

" Maybe, maybe not. It'll depend on the situation, I think. Betraying could mean anything like you kissing a girl I like. It could be harmless or it could be something big." Blair replied.

" About that dying part, if I wasn't meant to bring you back, then why did and most importantly could I?"

" Like I said, you're a Sentinel, I'm your Guide. You saw in a vision how to bring me back and you did. As you're Guide, I can't leave yet because I have to be here in case you zone out. If we'd be just partners without the Sentinel/Guide bond, I'd be dead." Blair replied. He stopped pacing and flopped back down next to Jim, stifling a yawn.

" So we just have to prevent that stuff from happening again and you'll be fine." Jim said. Blair laughed.

" Highly doubtable. We can't just prevent it. It'll happen, just wait and see." He said.

" What will happen to us if something like the fountain thing happens?" Jim asked. Blair shrugged.

" I don't know but let's hope it's nothing like the fountain or our friendship might not survive." He replied honestly. He really had been close on walking out on Jim that time but he felt that he should stay as Jim's guide. Things had improved but they never talked about it which partly bothered him since after all, they did merge. What did that change about their friendship? Apparently nothing. Jim was his best friend but kissing the girl that killed him went a bit too far. The one time he did mention it, Jim said it was just animal lust. How was that supposed to make him feel better? Maybe not talking about it was the solution. It wouldn't get them into awkward chats but pretending nothing happened wasn't the answer either since he still had some nightmares from time to time.

Man, he never got in this sort of trouble before he met Jim. Then again, he didn't want to give up this life because he actually liked being a cop, apart from all the kidnappings he seemed to get into. Why always him? Couldn't they take Jim for a change? Or the bad guys could let him get out of it without injuries. That would be nice. Realizing Jim still hadn't said a word since his last statement, he shot his friend a worried look.

Jim felt Blair's eyes on him but he didn't look back. What Blair said last, was exactly what he'd been thinking but hearing it out loud and coming from Blair was a bit of a shock. Jim made a mental note: _do NOT get yourself or Blair into trouble or suffer the consequences._ Good, now that they more or less sorted it out, they could go back to sleep.

" Go back to sleep, Blair. It's still early." Jim suggested. Blair nodded.

" Night and don't try to worry to much. We'll handle it **if** it happens." Blair said, patting Jim's shoulder and disappearing in his room. Jim sighed and returned to his bed for a pretty restless sleep of worrying and brooding.

-------------------------------------------------

" Man, this is the third gunfight we get into this week!" Blair exclaimed as he and Jim ducked for cover behind a squad car while Jim handed Blair his gun. It was a week after their midnight chat and things had been quite crazy. The day after the chat, they had found themselves in the middle of a gunfight when they went to the supermarket to buy groceries.

It had been Blair's turn but Jim had insisted on coming with him. Jim hadn't been able to come up with a descent excuse but Blair knew it was because the dream bothered Jim. So there they were, walking the short distance from the truck to the market when some guys came running around the corner with three uniformed cops behind them. Hell had pretty much broken loose when one of the cops opened fire. One of the guys got hit and his buddies started to return fire. They took advantage of the cops ducking behind cars to help their injured buddy. Of course they hadn't counted on Jim and Blair. When the first shot rang, Jim had pulled his gun, which he again had insisted on taking with him for safety, and had it pointed at the four guys. That was after Jim shoved Blair behind a car. He had been stupid enough not to bring his gun. Anyway, four against one wasn't really fair and the four knew they had an advantage so they had opened fire. Just then, the uniformed cops decided to help Jim out a little and they got the situation under control. No one, except one criminal, got hurt. Jim and Blair still didn't know what that had been about.

The second gunfight was two days earlier when they found themselves in another situation. Blair and Jim had been in charge of protecting a girl who was threatened by her boyfriend who, typically enough, had his own gang and wasn't exactly the nicest person alive. Blake, the ex-boyfriend, didn't really appreciate the police protection and tried to get Kelly ,his girlfriend, back. So he took two of the people he trusted most in his gang and left on a mission to find where they were hiding out. Of course the guy had sources all over town and by the time Jim was informed that they had to get the hell out of the house they were hiding, he already found himself face-to-face with Blake and two friends. Luckily, he had ordered backup and they weren't that far away from the police station.

Blake took a shot at Jim, who'd been wearing a bulletproof vest just in case, and then Blake got shot by Blair who came out of the kitchen where he and Kelly sat. Blake was shot in his arm and returned fire so Blair got back in the kitchen and Jim jumped behind a couch which was soon filled with holes. Blair had gotten Kelly out and trusted on the fact that Jim would be safe but Jim didn't notice one of the guys sneaking out. He saw that little detail when he returned fire and Blake and his other friend ran out just when Simon and back-up arrived.

The other one had already made it to where Blair was and had a gun pointed at his head. The guy took a shot at Blair who was pushed out of the way by Kelly. Jim ran out at that time and took the guy down. Kelly got shot in the arm but nothing serious. Blake was behind bars. Case closed.

This time, they were investigating a murder and came across a serial killer. They had him figured out pretty quickly since the ritual he used to kill his victims was used by an old African tribe. Blair had made the connection and they figured out who the next victim was: Blair. Using Blair as bait, they got to Glenn Brooks who had kidnapped Blair. Jim had found them fairly quickly before something could happen and got Blair out after knocking the murderer out. They hadn't even made it outside when bullets were flying right past them. Back-up was waiting outside and as soon as they heard the gunshots they got in position.

Blair and Jim came running out and took cover behind one of the cars. They hadn't counted on the fact that Glenn had his own back-up who were on another floor. Jim had missed that fact in his worry for Blair. The guys were now helping Glenn out. They had no idea where those guys came from because they never found that Glenn was working together with someone. So far for their thorough investigation.

Bullets flew past them and dug into the cars.

" I swear something wants me dead." Blair muttered as they waited for the right moment to return fire.

" Yeah well, it'll have to get past me first." Jim replied. Blair smiled. Finally, the firing stopped. Jim carefully stood up and looked at the open door from the warehouse they were at.

" Okay, come on, we're not gonna let him get away." Blair said, running back into the warehouse. Jim followed after signaling to Simon and the rest to follow. Jim focused his hearing and found the rapid heartbeats above them. Jim pointed up.

" They trapped themselves." Blair whispered. How the hell could they trap themselves? There wasn't any other visible exit but for pro's they were stupid since apparently they didn't have a back-up plan. Jim nodded and listened again.

/How was I supposed to know it was a trap/ Jim heard their suspect say.

/Kidnapping someone from the police is really clever./ came a second mocking voice.

/That was your idea./

/Well, you should've stopped me./

/Guys, we better focus on getting out of here./ Came a third voice. /By now, they know where we are since there's no other place to run to so we don't have any options./

/We shoot ourselves out of here./

/Right, in case you haven't noticed: this place is crowed with cops. We won't even get downstairs./

" Yo, Jim." Blair said, laying a hand on his arm.

" They're arguing about how to get out of here and it won't be without a fight." Jim reported.

" Let's get up there and hope they're smart enough to surrender." Simon ordered.

" Chief, you're staying here." Jim ordered.

" What!" Blair asked surprised.

" Too dangerous and no arguments. Conner stay with him." Jim replied. He, Simon, Henri, Joel, Brian and some uniformed officers made their way to the stairs on the other end of the room.

" I'm no fucking kid." Blair mumbled. He decided not to go after Jim because he wasn't in the mood for a lecture.

" He's just worried." Megan soothed.

" How do you think I'm feeling now? Come on, let's go outside." Blair said. He had a hunch that there had to be some way out or they wouldn't have come here. He started walking to the back of the building.

" Hey, where are you going?" Megan asked, following. Blair didn't reply and kept walking. Once at the back, they noticed the fire escape. Blair looked up. If he was right, the guys were at the left of the building. If Jim and the others got upstairs, they'd be between them and the fire escape. He saw the guys move behind a broken window.

" Cascade PD! FREEZE!" they heard Jim's loud voice. The reply was a fire of shots. Blair drew his gun and waited. While the shooting continued, one man made his way down the fire escape.

" Megan, go back. When the others come outside, get them to come here." Blair ordered.

" Sandy…"

" Go." Blair interrupted. Megan nodded and ran off. Their serial killer hadn't spotted him so he sneaked closer. Half way down, Glenn heard the breaking of a piece of wood and looked down. Blair froze up as Glenn pulled a gun and shot. The bullet hit him in the chest. Soon his shirt was covered in a sticky liquid. Blair came to his senses when he felt the burning pain in his chest. His vision started to blur but he managed to aim his gun and fire one single time. Before he fell down, he saw Glenn fall. He must've hit him. He heard Jim's shouting when he went down and blackness overtook him.

Jim ran around the corner just in time to see Blair and Glenn go down. He couldn't care less about Glenn. The remaining guys upstairs had given up fairly quickly when their boss had escaped. Plus they were outnumbered and trapped. It was still a riddle how Glenn got past them. Probably when they had ducked for cover behind large wooden boxes.

" Blair!" he yelled, running over to his guide. Simon was right behind him. Jim sank down next to Blair and looked at the blood pouring from the wound.

" Simon, call an ambulance. Now!" Jim ordered. Simon nodded and pulled out his cell phone. They weren't paying any attention to Glenn who had lifted his gun and had it aimed at Jim's back. A shot rang out.

Simon and Jim both looked at Glenn who lay dead on the ground. Jim looked up. Henri was leaning out the window, gun pointed. Jim waved and then focused his attention back on Blair. He pushed his hands on the wound, trying to stop the flow of blood. It didn't help. His hands were soon covered in Blair's blood and he couldn't do a thing but to wait until the ambulance would get here.

" Come on, Blair. You got to hang on, buddy. Ambulance is on its way. You can defeat this, just hang on. You'll be fine, really and when this is over we can go camping, what do you say? We'll call in sick and then leave town." Jim said. Simon listened as Jim talked to their friend, reassuring him it would be okay and tell him what they could do when they had time off. Simon sat down on the other side. Megan, Henri, Joel and Brian stood behind them, watching as life was drained from Blair, how his breathing got shallower, how paler his face got with the minute and how the flow of blood didn't seem to stop. They listened to Jim's voice, how it got more strained, how tears obviously sounded through while they tried to stop from crying themselves.

They could've prevented this somehow. They could only watch as their friend was bleeding to death in front of them. Finally they heard the sirens of the ambulance nearing.

Upon their arrival at the hospital, Blair was taken away from Jim and brought to the operation room that was prepared for him. Jim, Simon and Megan were led to a waiting room where they could only wait and pray.

Jim was pacing the waiting room like a caged lion. Simon and Megan were sitting down, watching Jim and occasionally telling the sentinel to sit down, which he ignored. The other three detectives were at the station, questioning Glenn's friends. Simon called them once every half an hour to ask how it was going and give an update of the situation. So far they knew nothing about Blair's condition. Jim wasn't listening in because he didn't think he could handle hearing the doctors yelling out orders to try and save his partner.

" Damn, this is taking long." Jim muttered for about the tenth time in the three hours that they had been waiting.

" The injury didn't look good so I'd be more worried if it didn't take this long." Simon replied again. He and Megan had taken turns in giving Jim that answer. Jim growled and continued his pacing. He had been pacing for at least two hours. The ride in the ambulance had been hell. They'd let him stay with Blair because the paramedics hadn't really wanted to deal with a pissed off cop.

" Jim, sit down and try to rel-"

" Relax? Yeah, I'll relax while my partner is dying." Jim interrupted Megan.

" Who says he's dying? If he were dying, he'd probably be dead now and then we would've known. Besides, shouldn't you be able to know when he's dead because of your Sentinel/Guide bond?" Simon soothed. Jim stopped pacing to look at him for a couple of seconds before growling again and continuing his pacing.

Simon and Megan could only watch and decided to stop their attempts to get Jim to sit down since it was pointless. Instead, they each got lost in thought and just stared ahead.

Jim suddenly froze in mid-step. His body tensed.

The panther was in the forest, looking around and growling. Then something cut it off and it realised it was the wolf, once again running away towards where the forest ended. The panther growled. The wolf turned around to look at its mate briefly before turning around and resuming his running. The panther let out a dangerous and threatening growl and ran after the wolf, jumping in front of it with a huge leap. The wolf was forced to stop or it would crash right into its mate. The panther shook its head and let out a low growl.

' _If you're going, I'm going too.'_

' _No! I don't have a choice, you have. We can't outsmart dead.' _

' _Yes, we can and we've done it before. Just go back.' The panther took a step forward, forcing the wolf back. ' If we couldn't outsmart dead, I wouldn't be here to call you back.'_

_The wolf shook its head but backed up a bit._

' _Trust me, Blair. I told you we were gonna get through this together. Just trust me.'_

' Always.'

" –im? Jim!" A familiar voice called him back. He shook his head and focused on Simon who was standing right in front of him with a hand on his arm. Megan was standing partly behind Simon, looking extremely worried.

" Phew, I though you went in a zone. What happened?" Simon asked, guiding Jim to one of the chairs and pushing him down. Megan and Simon sat on either side of him. Jim grinned.

" Nothing happened, really. Just another sort of vision." Jim said rather cheerfully. Megan gasped.

" Like at the fountain?" she asked carefully. Jim nodded.

" He's not…" Simon trailed off.

" No." Jim just said. Both Megan and Simon breathed relieved. They still found this all pretty weird but chose not to question it too much and just go with whatever Jim said.

About forty five minutes later, the doctor, who had been awaiting them when Blair was brought in and was named Jesse Travis, returned.

" Ah detective Ellison. I'm Jesse Travis." The young doctor introduced himself. Jim had met Jesse before. He introduced Megan and Simon to the blond doctor. " Nearly everything went fine. We were able to remove the bullet but it took a while because we had to be careful not to hit anything vital. The blood loss was worrying but that's okay now. We lost him for a couple of minutes but we were able to bring him back although it actually seemed impossible. He must have a good guardian angle." Jesse said. Jim smiled.

" He sure has. Can we see him?" Jim asked.

" Not for another day because he's in recovery right now. We want to keep an eye on him. I'd say you better come back tomorrow when we've moved him to another room." Jesse answered. Jim nodded reluctantly. He really wanted to see his partner but he came back, didn't he? So he should be fine. He was getting tired although he guessed sleep wouldn't be that easy tonight.

" Thank you, doctor." Simon said. Jesse nodded and left. "Let's go to the station to see what we have. I bet Rafe, Brown and Taggart are anxious to hear the news." Simon said to the two detectives, relief obvious in his voice. Then he took a good look at Jim who looked exhausted. " Jim, why don't you go home? And In case you haven't noticed, your hands are still covered in Blair's blood."

Jim looked at his hands. He hadn't even noticed. Now, he did notice how warm the dried up blood was against his skin, he felt the stickiness of the liquid, he felt…

" Jim, now is not the time for a zone-out." Simon said, shaking him out of his near zone.

" Right, does someone want to drive me home? What happened to my truck anyway?" Jim asked.

" Megan will take you and Rafe drove it home." Simon answered. " Now that that's settled, let's go." Simon said, feeling a hell of a lot better since he entered the hospital and found a defeated Jim sitting in the waiting room.

The three detectives headed towards the parking. Simon got in his car while Jim and Megan got in Megan's.

Jim was staring out of the window without actually seeing things. He heard other cars drive by, he heard the sounds of birds, he heard the engine of the car… He heard everything but his Guide's heartbeat. He needed to hear Blair's heartbeat. It soothed him and kept him grounded. He had no idea how much comfort he got from Blair's heartbeat. Situations like these always made him think about this, made him realise his life would be quiet without Blair's heartbeat, without his happy chatter and bouncing around. His life would again be like before he met Blair and that thought scared him. Before Blair, his life had been empty. It had always been the same: get up, go to work, solve cases, do paperwork, eat from time to time, go home, watch TV and go to bed. Nothing exciting or fun. He couldn't imagine how much his life had changed for the better since he had met his guide.

" Jim?" Megan asked, penetrating his thoughts.

" Yeah?"

" We're here." Megan told him. Jim looked around and noticed they had indeed arrived.

" Right, thanks, Con- Megan." He replied. Megan smiled.

" Are you gonna be okay?"

" Yeah, I'll be fine. Are you going back to the station?" Jim asked.

" Uhuh, Simon will kill me if I don't." Megan replied, grinning.

" Do me a favour, if they're done interrogating Glenn's buddies, give me call."

" Sure thing." Megan said. Jim nodded and got out of the car. He waved at his fellow detective as she drove off. He went inside, running into one of his neighbours when he reached his floor.

" My, my, what happened to you?" Felicia, an 80 year old women asked him. Jim smiled slightly.

" Nothing."

" I do not call that nothing, young man. Your job is much too dangerous. Where is young Blair?" she asked.

" I'm afraid he got shot. He's in the hospital right now." Jim answered, unlocking the door to his place.

" Will he be okay?" Felicia asked.

" Of course, ma'am. You know Blair, he'll pull through." Jim answered. " If you'll excuse me, I'd like to take a shower and get his blood of my hands."

" Of course, of course." Felicia went back to her apartment as Jim disappeared in his. He went straight to the bathroom, turned on the water, got out of his clothes and got under the warm water. He took his time with washing until the water was turning cold. He then dried himself off and went upstairs with a towel around his waist to change in some clothes. Noticing, it was already turning dark, he decided to eat since he couldn't remember the last time he ate. Just as he prepared himself some sandwiches, the phone rang.

" Ellison."

/ Jim, It's Megan./

" Hey. What did they found out from Glenn's buddies?" Jim asked.

/ They say they have nothing to do with it. It was all Glenn's idea./

" What? I heard one of them talk and it didn't sound to me like it was Glenn's plan." Jim answered.

/ We can't do a thing against them. Glenn's dead and they have the same story./

" So, you're gonna have to let them walk?" Jim asked frustrated.

/ No, we're charging them with attempted murder and kidnapping although I do think they'll be out in no time./

" Wonderful!" Jim muttered. " Thanks anyway, see you tomorrow." Jim was about to hang up when Megan spoke up again.

/ Wait, Simon told me to give you the day off so you can be with Sandy./

" Okay, say thanks from me. Are you guys coming to the hospital tomorrow?" Jim asked.

/ Of course./

" Great, see you tomorrow." Jim replied.

/ Bye./

Jim hung up the phone and sank down on the couch with his food. For once, he didn't give a damn about getting the couch dirty. He just wanted to relax a bit by watching TV. Tomorrow he could go see Blair. Although Blair wasn't with him, he clearly felt Blair's presence. His scent was all around him and was the strongest in Blair's room. It soothed him and allowed him to relax. It also kept him grounded and from zoning out on the noises coming from outside.

Jim awoke early. He rubbed his eyes and realised he'd fallen asleep on he couch. The TV was still playing and was just showing the 7 AM news. Jim turned off the TV, not wanting to know what bad stuff had happened overnight. He went into the kitchen to get the coffee started and went upstairs to grab clean clothes. He dumped the clothes in the bathroom, got the shower started and stripped down to his boxers. Then, he returned to the kitchen to drink his first coffee of the day. He put his mug down and went into the bathroom to take that shower.

Twenty minutes later, he re-emerged, showered, freshly shaven and dressed. He made toast and ate it as grabbed his jacket and headed out to visit Blair.

Once he arrived at the hospital, he listened for Blair's heartbeat and easily filtered out the steady beating of his Guide's heart. He still found it odd how easily he could find Blair's heartbeat among a hundred of others. He knew where Blair's room was, yet he followed the sound. About halfway, he lost the sound as he ran into a nurse who just came out of another room.

" Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I wasn't paying attention." She said.

" That's okay. I wasn't paying much attention either." Jim replied. He didn't miss the seductive look she threw him. She was quite attractive. She had shoulder length brown hair which fell nicely around her face and she had the most intense green eyes Jim had ever seen. He just couldn't look away. She noticed and smiled.

" I'm Samantha but most people call me Sam."

" I'm Jim." Jim answered as he took the hand Sam offered him.

" So visiting someone here?" she asked. Jim realised he'd completely forgotten about Blair the last couple of minutes.

" Yeah, a friend of mine got shot. His room is down the hall." Jim answered with a wave of his hand in the right direction.

" Blair Sandburg, isn't it? I went to check on him earlier. He was still asleep then but I think he might be awake now. I'll walk you to his room." Sam offered.

" Great, thanks." They walked the remaining distance to Blair's room, chatting a bit.

" Why don't you give me a call? We could go out sometime." Sam said as she handed Jim a paper with her phone number on it.

" I'd love that." Jim replied, putting the paper safely away in his pocket. Sam smiled and walked off. Jim watched her until she disappeared around a corner. He shook his head to clear it and quietly entered Blair's room. His young Guide was still asleep and snoring softly. He took place by the bed and watched as Blair slept. It wasn't long before Blair stirred and opened his eyes.

" Hey." Jim greeted.

" Hey." Blair replied sleepily. He blinked a couple of times to clear his blurry vision and sat up a little, wincing as he did so.

" How are you feeling?" Jim asked, leaning forward in his chair.

" I'm okay. A bit sore but it'll pass." Blair answered. "When can I go home?"

Jim shook his head. Typical Blair. His friend hated hospitals and that was an understatement.

" I don't know. I guess the doctor will come by today to tell you but I'm betting you're gonna have to stay here for another few days." Jim replied.

Blair groaned. " I want to go home."

" I know you do but they nearly lost you so I don't think they want to let you go so soon."

" I suppose what we shared was another vision?" Blair said, now excited as he remembered what had happened as he was on his way to move on to another life.

" I guess so, yeah. I seemed to have gotten warned about what was going on and suddenly I was in the forest." Jim answered.

" That's like so cool! That's the second time that this has happened!" Blair exclaimed.

" Thanks." He added sincerely.

" You're welcome, besides if you'd died, I never would've met that cute nurse." Jim teased.

" Cute nurse? Damn, someone's been busy." Blair replied, grinning. He knew a subject change when it happened. Jim obviously didn't want to continue talking about the whole vision thing. That kind of shit was way to weird for his Sentinel to talk about. He knew Jim probably had accepted he fact that this kind of stuff could happen but that didn't mean he was quite ready to deal with it

Of course, there was a whole other reason why Jim didn't want to talk about the vision thing. He'd come too close to losing Blair again and it scared him that maybe someday he might not be able to bring his Guide back. He'd already pretty much forced his job on Blair. He knew Blair hated guns yet now he had to use one daily to either protect him or someone else. Blair hadn't even protested when he'd heard he'd had to complete a weapons training. He just did it and easily passed it. Blair was a great shooter even if he would never admit it to himself.

" Yeah. I literally ran into her." Jim told him.

Blair shook his head. " You've got to learn to pay better attention, man. You should've like heard her coming." He said.

" I know. I was just too busy listening to other things." Jim responded quietly. Blair immediately understood and this time changed the subject himself. Jim stayed in the hospital room the rest of the day, only going out to get something to eat.

During the day, the doctor had dropped by to redress the wound and to tell Blair the bad news that he had to stay in the hospital for another five days because of the seriousness of the wound. Blair was not too happy about his longer stay and tried to convince the doctor to let him go home but the doctor, with some help from Jim, kindly told Blair he didn't have much of a choice. The wound had been serious and it could start bleeding again or an infection could set in so it was safer to keep Blair in the hospital. Blair had finally agreed.

Later that day, Simon and Megan dropped by to see how Blair was doing.

" Hey Sandy, how are you?" Megan asked as she sat on the end of Blair's bed.

" I'm fine. It just hurts a little when I try to sit up too fast." Blair answered.

" Everyone's glad you're okay. We thought we lost you." Simon told Blair.

" Death won't get me as long as Jim's around." Blair replied as he smiled at the Sentinel who smiled back.

" The vision thing?" Megan asked curiously. Both Blair and Jim nodded. " What actually happened in that vision?"

" I, for one, don't want to know." Simon said, holding up his hands. He had gotten used to the Sentinel thing and some of the weird stuff that came along with it but visions were a bit too much.

" In the vision we were talking. He wanted to leave, I sort of convinced him to come back. That's about it." Jim explained, earning a groan from Simon. He could deal with this vision stuff, too, he could. He never believed in all that spiritual stuff but it was time to face that there were things like that out there.

" That's kinda cool."

" Yeah, I just wish that next time I have a vision, it doesn't include Blair nearly dying." Jim said, turning to stare out of the window. He could hear the wind howling, he saw leaves flying up high before they disappeared out of sight again.

Blair realised they were getting in dangerous territory again so he made another subtle subject change.

About an hour later, Blair forced the three detectives to go home and made them promise to come visit him again the next day or else he would go crazy, doing nothing.

" I'll bring you some paperwork. How about that?" Jim joked.

" Good idea! Or bring me a book, I don't care which one." Blair replied.

" I could go buy one downstairs." Simon suggested.

" Nah, you don't have to. I'm kinda tired anyway so I think I'm just gonna get some sleep." Blair answered.

" Okay, see you tomorrow and if something's wrong, just call me okay?" Jim said, sounding worried.

" Yeah, yeah." Blair replied with a small smile. It touched him that Jim cared so much about him.. Even after all these years, the depth of Jim's concern for him still caught him by surprise sometimes. Jim nodded and left the room. Blair sighed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking about that aspect of their relationship. It didn't take him long to drift off.

Five days later, at five to eight, Jim entered the hospital with a bag of fresh clothes. On his way to Blair's room, he once again ran into Samantha. He didn't even want to question the fact that she always managed to turn up when he entered.

He hadn't gone out with her yet. He wanted to but his main concern was Blair. He had to make sure Blair was all right. She understood that when he'd told her that several days ago. Every time he'd come to the hospital over the past few days, he'd always seen her after or before he went to see Blair. They always chatted for a couple of minutes. Jim was going to ask her out one of the following days.

" Hey, Jim." She greeted, smiling warmly.

" Hey."

" You look tired."

" I haven't really slept that well." Jim replied. He kept having nightmares about Blair actually getting killed. In his dreams, Blair was being held hostage in a warehouse by someone, a woman. He couldn't see her face but she'd seemed vaguely familiar to him. He just couldn't tell where he'd seen her before. He always found Blair. He'd have his gun trained on the woman who was pointing her gun at Blair. He knew he could take her out but something held him back. He always heard the woman's evil laugh before she killed his partner because he couldn't seem the shoot the woman.

He hated hose dreams and he swore to himself his partner would always come first. The dreams reminded him of their midnight chat. Betrayal… That would never happen again, never.

" I see you're here to take your friend home." Sam said, pointing at the bag.

" Yeah, I am." Jim replied. " Thank god because Blair's been driving me crazy. The way he's keeping all of that energy of his bottled up, I swear he's gonna explode. It's gonna be good for him to be home."

" I can imagine but he still needs to rest. I've followed up on his progress and although the wound is pretty much healed, I wouldn't take any risks." Sam said.

" Tell him that." Jim grinned. " But I better go to him because he hates it when I'm too late."

" Of course. How about dinner tonight?" Sam asked.

" I don't know. I've got to take care of Blair first but I'll give you a call tonight so we can arrange something."

" Sure." Sam said, " See you around."

Jim made his way to Blair's room and found him sitting up in bed.

" What took you so long, man?" Blair asked, anxious.

" It's only five past eight." Jim responded as he dropped the bag with clothes on Blair's bed.

" Thanks. Could you get that bunch of paper crap I have to fill in? The sooner I'm out of here, the better." Blair said. There was really nothing that could keep Blair in a bed, other than a woman.

" Sure, I'll be right back." Jim said as he left the room and walked to the nearest nurse's station to get the necessary papers. By the time he returned to Blair's room, Blair was fully dressed and waiting impatiently. Jim handed the papers to Blair who quickly filled them in. They went to return the papers and then left.

" Thank god. Finally! So what's up for today?" Blair asked as he turned to Jim.

" For you, nothing. I'm taking you home and you are going to rest." Jim replied.

" Jim!" Blair exclaimed. " I can't do nothing. At least let me come with you so I can do some paperwork for you. I know you hate it. It's a great deal: I don't do much except sit and type and you don't have to waste time on paperwork."

" That sounds really tempting but no. Even typing is too much right now," Jim answered,

"And no more arguments. Watch some TV, read something. I don't care as long as you stay home."

" Okay, okay." Blair said, crossing his arms. Jim grinned as he'd obviously won the argument.

" So do you need me to come upstairs with you or can you find your own way?" Jim asked.

" I can find my own way, thank you. I'll cook something for dinner, okay?" Blair suggested.

" Okay, but don't overdo it." Jim warned.

" No, dad." Blair said, rolling his eyes. He grabbed his keys and headed upstairs. He opened the door, threw his keys down and pulled out his jacket. He knew Jim was listening downstairs to make sure he stayed in the loft. Blair sat down and switched on the TV. He flipped through channels for several minutes, then he switched the TV back off and walked to the window. The truck was gone. He grabbed his jacket and some money and headed out.

Jim was doing paperwork. He hated it but it had to be done and Simon really wanted his report on the shooting. After typing for half an hour, he was done and dropped his report of with Simon. When he returned to his desk, he heard a familiar heartbeat coming up in the elevator. Jim groaned and walked over to the elevator.

Blair didn't seem the least bit surprised to see him when he reached the right floor. Blair greeted him, walked past him into the bullpen and to his desk.

" Blair!" Rafe exclaimed. " Aren't you supposed to be home?"

" Yes, he is." Jim growled as he stood in front of Blair, arms crossed and glaring. It was one of those glares that could make anyone run away as far and fast as possible but not Blair. Blair wasn't intimidated by the famous Ellison-glare. " Mind telling me what the hell you're doing here? How did you get here anyway?" Jim asked sweetly.

" I'm here to help you, man. Ever heard of the bus?" Blair replied as if it were the clearest thing in the world.

" Right. Do I have to remind you that you just got shot and should be resting?"

" I got shot six days ago which is not just and I feel _fine_. As long as I don't have to do any running and just sit around doing paperwork, I'll be fine." Blair answered.

Jim sighed in surrender. " Okay but if I see you looking like you're in pain, I drive you home at once without arguing."

" Sure." Blair replied. He was about to take place behind his desk when Simon called him and Jim. They took place in a chair in front of Simon's desk.

" What are you doing here?" Simon asked.

" Working." Blair answered.

" You're not supposed to be working. you should be resting." Simon said, arms crossed.

" Don't bother, Simon. I've tried that line and it didn't work." Jim said.

" Fine, but you're staying on desk duty until you're fully recovered and if you feel any pain, I want you to stop at once and go rest." Simon warned.

" I know, I know. Jim already said that." Blair replied irritated. He was touched that they were worried but he was fine. He hated doing nothing and the wound didn't bother him when he didn't move around to much so why not finish up some paperwork so Jim could go catch the bad guys?

" Good. I was just about to call you in, Jim. We've got a new case on our hands." Simon said. Blair sat back in his chair, ready to listen when Jim threw him a look.

" What? There's nothing wrong with listening."

" There has been a series of robberies. The major wants us to work the case because we have solved the most cases over the past few months. Details of the robberies can be found here." Simon handed both Jim and Blair a file. They studied it for a couple of minutes. Apparently, the robber or robbers had been active in Los Angeles before coming to Cascade. Nothing was known about the person, they didn't even know whether the robber was male or female. The person had broken into four different jewelry stores in Los Angeles over a time period of three weeks and two in Cascade, a week apart since two weeks ago. There were no doubts that the person would strike again. There also was no sign of the stolen goods. Most of the stolen stuff had been pricey necklaces and bracelets. They had pictures. They knew the goods might turn up in Cascade.

" What makes you so sure we can find who's behind this? LAPD has nothing." Blair said throwing his file on the desk.

" Jim's senses."

" Well, whoever's behind it is a pro. He or she didn't leave any signs to point them in the right direction. Their forensic team came up with nothing and they searched every crime scene twice."

"The latest crime scene has already been searched by Homicide, don't ask me why, and two detectives from Robbery. I doubt you're gonna be able to do much with that but go check it out anyway. Maybe you can come up with something."

" Look, Simon-" Blair started but was interrupted by both Jim and Simon before he could tell them his idea.

" No!"

" Jim, you _need_ me there. What if you zone?"

" He does have a point." Simon admitted.

" Thank you."

" Take Connor with you, she'll be able to solve the problem when you zone."

Jim's glare turned into a smile. " Yes, sir. Have fun with the paperwork, Sandburg."

Jim walked out and went to tell Megan the good news. It didn't take sentinel hearing to hear her groan.

Jim and Megan arrived at the crime scene fifteen minutes later. The place was still sealed off and some Homicide detectives were still hanging around. This robbery had only taken place last night.

" Ah Ellison, good to see you. Well, good luck." A homicide detective Jim vaguely remembered patted him on the shoulder and left together with his partner. Jim and Megan entered.

" Please don't zone or whatever because I have no idea what to do if you do." Megan almost pleaded.

" Just hit me." Jim replied calmly, grinning at Megan's shocked look. He started focusing on the various smells. A lot of smells hit him at once. He went past the ones he could vaguely place when a weird smell caught his attention. He had smelled it before.

" Whoever's behind this works or has been in the hospital lately." Jim said to Megan who was watching him like a hawk for any sign of a zone. Then Jim looked around the shop, trying to see if anything caught his attention. He walked around a bit, investigating every broken glass cabinet. A red spot on one of the glass pieces on the ground caught his attention. He pulled on a glove and carefully picked the piece up. There was some dried up blood on it.

Megan came over to him with an evidence bag to put the piece in.

" There's some blood on it. It might get us a match."

" It's better than nothing but it takes _days _if not weeks to search all possible databases."

" I know but I want to solve this even if it's just to show those idiots at LAPD what Cascade PD can do."

" That's typical guys. Always making a stupid competition out of everything."

Jim grunted something in response and started walking around again. Not far from where he found the bloody piece of glass, he found a long brown hair. Megan handed him another bag in which Jim carefully slipped the hair.

" That'll do. Let's go tell Simon the-" The rest of Jim's sentence was cut off by Megan's ringing cell phone.

" Connor… he's fine… no, he didn't zone. He even found a hair and a piece of glass with blood on it... no, he doesn't have a headache… We're coming back right now… bye."

" Let's go before Sandburg organizes a search party." Jim said, rolling his eyes with a small smile on his face.

" I wish I had a friend like that."

" You do. You've got me and Sandburg and Rafe and H and Taggart and Simon."

" Yeah, but that's not the same. You and Sandy have like a really special bond. You've been through so much together and you're sill really good friends."

" That's because Sandburg's really forgiving. I'm usually the one screwing up. To be honest, if I wasn't a Sentinel, Sandburg would've left long ago."

" I don't think so, Jim. You really mean a lot to him. He won't leave you unless there's a really good reason and don't start about Alex. I may not know everything about it but I know he more or less understands."

" I know he does but I don't understand why."

" You're not listening. He cares about you!"

" I care about him too."

" And he knows that, trust me." Megan said as they got in the truck and drove back to the precinct to get the discovered evidence checked out.

After bringing the evidence to the appropriate people, Jim and Megan went to Simon's office to report. Jim immediately noticed Blair's empty desk.

" Where's Blair?" Jim asked as they barged in.

" At his…" Simon trailed off when he realized Blair wasn't at his desk. " Around."

" Right. Megan, can you tell Simon what we found? I'm going to look for Blair." Jim said a worried expression crossing his face. He stormed out before Simon or Megan could respond.

" Did it ever occur to him that maybe Sandburg just had to pee?" Simon asked.

" I don't think so. They really worry too much about each other. Did you notice that it has become worse lately?"

" Yeah, and for once, I don't want to know. They're too exhausting to keep up with."

" I hear ya. Anyway, Jim found blood and a brown hair. We've taken it to forensics to get it checked out."

Jim opened up his hearing to determine Blair's whereabouts. He immediately found the familiar heartbeat in the men's room. The sound of dry heaving caught his attention and he raced to his Guide. When he stormed in, he saw Blair hanging over the toilet. With one hand he was holding his hair back while with the other, he held on to the toilet. Jim kneeled down next to Blair and rubbed his back until Blair was done. Blair sat back, breathing hard and rubbing his throat which felt like it was on fire.

" So… what happened?" Jim asked.

" I was eating a sandwich and the next thing I knew it was coming back up and I ran to the toilet. I barely made it." Blair answered. He and Jim got up. Jim felt Blair's forehead. No fever.

" Maybe it was because of the wound?"

" Maybe. Come on, I'll take you home."

" I'm fine now."

Jim glared one of his don't-argue-with-me glares. " Sandburg, you're sick! I will not have you throwing up over your computer."

" Fine, but you can tell Simon!"

Twenty minutes and a bottle of water later, they were on their way to the loft. Jim had asked if he could stay home but Simon had politely told him that Blair could take care of himself and that he was needed for the case. The result was that Jim was clenching the steering wheel so tight that Blair feared it might break.

" So, when are you going out with that Sam girl I've heard so much about?" Blair asked, hoping to get Jim in a better mood before he had to go back to the station. Unfortunately., Megan was stuck with the sentinel for the rest of the day.

" When you get better."

" Oh, come on, Jim! I'm _thirty_. I think I can take care of myself now, don't you? I appreciate your worry, I really do but I don't want you staying home for me so call her and buy her dinner tonight."

" But-"

" I can call her, too. You are going out with her tonight, end of discussion. Look, man, I've heard you talking about her and you really seem to like her. I don't want her meeting someone else when you're too busy with me so please, go out with her."

" I'll call her as soon as we get at the loft." Jim said with a smile. Blair smiled too.

" Good."

Jim parked his truck and together they headed inside. Once in the loft, Jim steered Blair towards the couch much to Blair's annoyance. Blair was up less then a second later to get a book in his room.

" I could've gotten that for you." Jim said. Blair snorted.

" I'm sick, not dying. Actually, I'm not even sick! I can get things for myself. Drop the Blessed Protector routine, man. I'm perfectly safe here."

" Chief, you get yourself in trouble wherever you go." Jim said sweetly, earning a glare from Blair. Jim finally found the paper with Sam's phone number on it and called her. Ten minutes later, the date for that evening was set.

Blair was grinning like crazy at him.

" What?"

" Nothing, nothing. Will you be home later or are you going straight to wherever you're taking her."

" No, I'm coming home to-"

" Don't you dare say to check on me or I will strangle you." Blair said in his most reasonable threatening voice. Jim held up his hands and grinned.

" I'd love to stand around and chat but some people actually have a job to do."

Blair bit on the inside of his lip to keep himself from making a remark that was so obvious that Jim was expecting it. He wouldn't give the Jim the satisfaction of saying that normally, he'd be working too if it wasn't for Jim.

" Great! Have fun with that bunch of paperwork!" Blair said. Jim's groan was enough to make Blair burst out in laughter. " Hadn't thought of that, had you? Now shoo before Simon calls."

With one last threatening glare, Ellison left the building. Blair's laughter followed him until he was in the truck and a smile spread on his own face. The kid was really something.

Later that very day, Jim was upstairs in his room, getting ready for his dinner with Sam. Blair had offered to help him pick his clothes and since Blair hardly took no for an answer, he was now getting into clothes Blair had picked him for him. For the moment, his Guide was downstairs making some dinner for himself and ever so often calling upstairs for him to hurry. When Jim finally managed to get the clothes on properly, he went downstairs.

" Looking good, man." Blair said with a grin. He was probably feeling more excited then Jim. It had been ages since Jim had last gone out and to see his Sentinel with a content expression on his face, was enough to make Blair happy.

" Thanks but this jeans is really tight."

" Jim, my man, women like to check out a guy's ass. Trust me, they appreciate the tight jeans."

" Says the expert who's love life is like a train wreck."

" More like a dozen of train wrecks." Blair said with a snicker, " But I know well enough how to dress to get some female attention."

" Can't argue with that."

" Just one last note of advice, don't button that shirt completely. Let it hang open a bit… that's good. She's gonna love you!" Blair said patting Jim's shoulder. Jim checked his watch and noticed it was time to pick her up. He went into the bathroom for one last check and picked up the bouquet of flowers he had bought her when he'd come home from work.

" Have fun and don't be too late for work or Simon will kill us both." Blair teased. Jim rolled his eyes.

" You better make sure this place still exists when I get back." Jim said and with that, he left, cutting off Blair's remark. Blair shook his head with a grin and continued making dinner for himself. Who could he invite to make his evening more pleasant? Deciding that he needed to catch up with the bullpen gang, he called Simon, Henri, Megan, Brian and Joel. They didn't have plans and gladly came over. Brian had offered to go by some beers which Blair had agreed to since they were out of beer.

Thirty minutes later, the bullpen gang was gathered in the loft.

" Jim's on a date." Blair announced.

" Did he agree to let us come over?" Simon asked.

" Not exactly but he does want to keep me safe so what a better way to keep me safe then with a bunch of cops?" Blair said with a grin.

" He's going to kill you." Megan said.

" Nah, he doesn't have to know." Blair said, realizing Jim would know. Their scents would be all over the place. He decided he didn't really care.

Meanwhile across town, Jim's date with Samantha was going smoothly. He had taken her out to a romantic little restaurant that, he knew from experience, woman liked. The lights were dimly lit and candles were placed on every table to create a romanticsphere. It worked. Jim and Samantha were chatting over a glass of red wine while they waited for their food to be served.

" You know, I've only recently moved to Cascade."

" Oh really. Where did you live before?" Jim asked honestly interested. There was something about her that attracted him.

" Los Angeles, beautiful city but too busy."

" How did you end up in Cascade?"

" A friend of mine used to live here. I came to visit her a couple of times and loved it here so when I decided to move, the decision was quickly made." Samantha said smiling. It had been three weeks since she moved and she didn't regret it one bit.

" Well, if you need someone to show you some good spots and restaurants, don't hesitate to ask me. I know some great restaurants that you'll love."

" Really?" She asked smiling teasingly, " Can't wait to find out what the food's like in other restaurants."

" Good, because I intend to show you."

" Are you asking me out again?"

" Yes."

" Well, I'd love to."

Their food was brought and they ate in a comfortable silence while occasionally stealing something from each other's plate. When Jim drove Samantha home, she asked him to come in and he didn't refuse. They drank wine and ended up in bed. Not once did Jim think about Blair. It was as if he was under a spell and the only thing he could think of was the woman he was with.

Blair wasn't surprised when Jim didn't come home. He wouldn't have expected it anyway. He'd already arranged with Simon to come pick him up. When Blair woke up and checked his clock, he cursed loudly. Only five minutes before Simon would come pick him up. He usually was up on time but that was because of Jim. He should've set his alarm. He quickly got dressed, brushed his teeth and drank some coffee. Breakfast could wait. He grabbed his backpack and raced downstairs just as Simon pulled up.

" Great timing." Simon said smiling. Blair grinned back and decided too keep the fact that he'd overslept to himself. " Are you sure you're up to work?"

" Yeah, I don't know what made me puke but I'm fine now. I'm just hoping Ellison will be on time."

" Me too or I'll have to give him desk duty today."

Blair snickered. " He'll love that."

They were very surprised to find Jim already at the station. Blair wondered why Jim hadn't called to ask if he needed a ride. If Jim had been in a hurry, Blair could understand Jim couldn't pick him up but since Jim was too early, he could've.

" Hey, Jim." Blair greeted as he sat down at his desk while Simon went into his office.

" Blair!" Jim exclaimed startled by Blair's sudden appearance. He hadn't even heard his Guide coming. Normally, he did. Blair looked as confused as he was at his startled expression.

" You didn't hear me coming?"

Jim shook his head. " I always hear you coming."

Blair shrugged. " Wouldn't worry about it. I bet you were thinking about Sam. How did it go?"

Jim realized he had been thinking about Samantha. He couldn't seem to forget her.

" It was great. She's invited me over again tonight."

" That's great!" Blair said, hiding his disappointment. There was a game on that night and they always watched it together. Blair had even cancelled dates to watch a game because Jim had insisted on it and now, Jim was going out with Samantha again. Blair knew he should be happy but something was telling him that there was something suspicious going on with that Samantha girl. Jim knew perfectly whenever there was a game on and now he didn't seem to know. He realized he might be going crazy and that there was nothing wrong. Jim was simply in love with her, yet his gut told him there was more to it and if he'd learned one thing, then it was that he shouldn't ignore the feeling in his gut. He decided to wait and see what happened. There was no point in getting Jim upset that there might be something wrong if it was just jealousy that his best friends was spending more time with that girl then with him.

" What've you been up to?" Jim asked, not noticing something was wrong.

" Nothing." He said sharing a look with Henri who smiled a bit and went to work. Jim hadn't missed that and growled.

" I better hope you've cleaned up the mess." Jim snapped.

" Of course." Blair said, frowning at the harsh tone. The date went good yet Jim seemed a bit grumpy. What the hell was going on? He pulled out his glasses and went to work, deciding to leave Jim alone.

Jim wanted to curse. What was going on with him? He just snapped at Blair for no reason. Of course Blair would clean up the mess. He always did. And why hadn't he heard Blair coming? The day before he had heard Blair come up the elevator without even focusing on it. Normally he could tell whenever Blair entered the building. Now Jim hadn't even noticed it until Blair spoke. Something must be wrong with his senses. It was probably nothing to worry about. It would get better. Not realizing he was shutting Blair out again, he didn't apologize and kept working.

" Ellison, Connor!" Simon yelled. Jim stood up and noticed Blair was about to follow.

" This is not your case, Sandburg. You're not even supposed to be here so don't make me drag you home, okay?"

" Okay, okay. No need to bite my head off, man. I'm just trying to help you here." Blair held up his hands in surrender. This was making him remember the early days when they hadn't been friends yet. Jim used to snap at him all the time but they'd passed that… he thought.

Jim turned away from Blair and walked to the office. He sat down next to Megan.

" What?" he asked at Simon's look.

" Blair is your partner, he's allowed to hear this."

" No, he isn't. He's not supposed to be here. Besides, he doesn't always have to get involved with **my** stuff."

" Jim, we're talking about a case here! Blair is allowed to get involved. He's your freaking partner and if I remember correctly, you asked him to be!"

Jim growled and stormed out before Simon or Megan could react. Two seconds later Blair was in his office demanding an explanation. Simon explained what had just happened.

" It's got something to do with his date. He didn't even hear me coming, he always does and he's snapping at me. He only does that when I upset him and I'm pretty sure I didn't."

" Who is she?"

" Her name's Samantha, she works at the hospital."

" Wait a minute, at the crime scene yesterday, Jim said the robber has something to do with hospitals."

" What? You think she's the…" Simon trailed off and shook his head.

" Simon, can't you check her personal records? Her last name is Rucker."

" Sandburg, I'd leave that alone if I were you. This doesn't mean a thing."

" Come on, Simon. When have I been wrong about something like this?"

" Okay, do what you want but I don't want to hear it until you have hard evidence against her, understood? Now go get Jim, will you?" Simon said. Blair nodded and set out to search the Sentinel. He wasn't in the break room or at the roof so he went down to the parking and found Jim leaning against the truck.

" Simon wants you back upstairs." Blair said, keeping a fair distance. The last thing he needed was for to Jim to freak out on him. There was something triggering his behavior and he was determined to find out although it was doubtable that Jim even realized he was acting weird. He was going to get to the bottom of it, even it meant questioning Samantha himself. Jim wouldn't like it but it had something to do with her.

" Tell him he can kiss my ass." Jim said glaring.

" Tell him yourself." Blair answered. 'Great comeback, Sandburg.' Blair thought.

" Just leave me alone, Sandburg."

" Now I'm definitely not leaving you alone. Why are you snapping at me? I haven't done anything wrong."

" You have! You invited them over without my knowledge!"

" Hey, I live there too, remember? I can do what I want."

" It is still my house in case you've forgotten and I would've liked to know that you invited them over. My house, my rules."

Blair couldn't believe what he was hearing. Jim never had trouble with him inviting people over because like Jim had said so many times before, it was his home too. Jim bringing up the rules was also weird. Jim hadn't mentioned them ever since he'd moved back in after Alex.

" Fine, I'll check in with you next time I decide to wipe my ass while in _your_ bathroom!" Blair replied. He felt anger rising and decided to leave Jim alone before he'd say something he'd regret later. The last time Jim shut him out and started that crap, it had been with Alex and it had gotten him killed. Although he didn't want a repeat of that, he wasn't going to stand here and wait to get insulted. If Jim wanted to snap, he could snap all he wanted but then he shouldn't be surprised when he found his room empty one of those days.

When he rode up the elevator, he was more or less calmed down and realized he should be pressuring Jim to tell him what was going on. It wouldn't do their friendship any good if they started arguing about everything. He'd try to talk to Jim that night. Then he remembered Jim wouldn't be home and he felt anger rising again. He stormed to his desk and sat down clenching and unclenching his fists.

" Blair, where's Jim?" Simon asked.

" In the parking lot."

" No luck in talking with him?"

" I don't know what's going on with him and frankly, as long as he keeps snapping at me, I don't give a fuck."

Simon frowned. Blair had never cared that Jim snapped at him when something was wrong because he'd been too worried. Now he just didn't care. Just as Simon opened his mouth to tell Blair that, Blair cut him off.

" Look, Simon, a person can only handle that much of getting snapped at and I've already had my fair share so if he doesn't want to talk, I'm not about to pressure him. I've had it with his sudden mood swings. This he can figure out for himself but I'm not asking anymore."

Simon could only nod. Blair sounded determined and the expression in his eyes was oddly empty. He did realize Blair was right.

" I'll go get Jim." He said. 'And have a word with him.' He added in thought. " Are you still going to check out Samantha?"

" No, if something's wrong with her, Jim can figure it out himself. He won't believe me anyway so I'm not going to bother. Waste of time, man, waste of time."

Megan, who'd followed the conversation, decided to check up on her anyway. If Bair's gut was telling him something was wrong with her, then it shouldn't be ignored. She briefly locked eyes with Simon who gave her a small nod before he headed towards the elevator.

She typed in Samantha Rucker and found her personal record. She was thirty years old and Megan had to admit she was pretty. If she was a guy, she'd definitely fall for her. Reading further, she discovered she was born in New York and at the age ten, moved to Los Angeles where she'd lived until three weeks earlier. In Los Angeles, she'd worked at the local hospital as a nurse and before the move had requested a transfer to Cascade Hospital where she was working now.

Megan's expression became thoughtful. Three weeks since she'd moved, two weeks since the robberies started. Of course that meant nothing. Scrolling back up to her picture, she noticed the brown hair. Brown hair like the hair found at the crime scene. She worked in a hospital. The scent at the crime scene. It might be coincidence but Megan didn't believe in that.

She searched for a wrap sheet and found out she'd been arrested once at the age of fifteen for stealing a bracelet. Since she was underage at the time, no sanctions had followed.

She knew it wasn't enough prove to convince anyone that she was behind it but Megan decided to keep the option open. She'd talk to Simon about it later and ask whether she should tell Blair or not.

When Simon reached the parking lot, Jim was still leaning against the truck with an unreadable expression on his face.

" Don't even start, Simon. I've listened in until you said you'd come get me." Jim said.

" Good, then you know you're hurting the kid."

" Hurting him? He sounded really calm. Maybe it is time for him to find somewhere else to live. We can't live together forever."

" You've got to be kidding me! What the hell triggered all this?"

" Let's just say that my date with Samantha shook me awake."

" So, you're risking your friendship with Blair over a girl you know nearly nothing about?"

" When you put it like that, I guess so."

" Do you hear yourself talking?" Simon yelled, furious. He knew Ellison could be a prick but to hear something like that come out of Jim's mouth, it made Simon want to hit him. Jim always put friendship at the first place. " What the hell's going on with you, Ellison? Do you want something like Alex to happen again or the dissertation fiasco when you thought he'd betrayed you? I haven't got a clue what he's still doing with you! I'm starting to wish he'd leave you! Would be a hell of a lot better for him! Of all the shitty things you've said and done, what you just said is the worst! I swear to God, Jim, if you hurt the kid again…" he didn't finish the threat but his glare spoke volumes. Simon was slightly worried when Jim paled completely and looked like he was going to faint. He was still too pissed to ask if Jim was okay though.

" Shit, Simon… I-I don't know what's going on with me. Everything he says, everything he does, it pisses me off for absolutely no reason And all I can think about is Samantha."

" Obviously." Simon muttered angrily under his breath. " Blair thinks it's got something to do with her." He added and immediately realized his mistake. He was supposed to help fix things not make them worse.

" What!" Jim bristled. He went from defeated to pissed off in less then a second. " What the hell is he thinking? I'm going to tell him he's shouldn't stick his noose where it doesn't belong."

Simon stopped Jim with a restraining hand on his chest and glared. " Jim, for the sake of your friendship, don't. You heard him, he's giving up on you! I've seen the shit you put him through but he was always there for you and now he sounds like he's letting go. Don't let him. Once he closes off, it'll be too late so please fix this." He knew he was near begging but he didn't like to see Blair getting hurt. He'd seen him hurt so many times before and he feared that if Jim kept this up, Blair would leave for good.

Jim once again calmed down as quickly as he'd gotten pissed and heaved a deep sigh.

" I'll go talk to him.. just don't expect anything." Jim said heading off to the elevators.

" Maybe you should talk to him before watching the game tonight." Simon suggested while following the detective. Jim stopped abruptly causing Simon to run into him. Jim turned around and for the second time during their conversation, Jim looked pale.

" There's a game on tonight? Ah shit, we always watch it together. I made him cancel dates to spend time together. Oh man, this is getting worse by the minute."

" Don't tell me you have plans with **her** tonight?" Simon asked, spitting out the her as if it were poison.

" I have, she invited me over."

" Ellison," Simon growled, " The kid got shot. He's probably looking forward to some time with you outside of the hospital and at _home_. Well, he was looking forward to it."

" I'll cancel!"

" You better."

Jim sighed. He and Blair really needed to talk. " Hey, Simon. Do you mind if we go on an early lunch?"

" Not at all and don't come back until it's fixed."

They took the elevator up. Jim started to feel guiltier with the minute as he listened to his Guide's heartbeat. It was too irregular and Jim caught muttering under his breath. Deciding he didn't want to know, he dialed down his hearing.

" Hey Chief, wanna go grab a bite to eat?" Jim asked, leaning against Blair's desk.

" I'm busy." Came the muttered reply. Blair didn't even look up. Jim couldn't blame Blair for being in a bad mood.

" I'm trying to make up here."

That got Blair's attention. Blair stopped in mid sentence and looked up at him.

" Fine, but you better have a descent explanation." Blair said the glare disappearing from his face although Jim could still see some tension in the lines of Blair's face. Jim grabbed their jackets while Blair shut down his computer.

" Are you sure Simon doesn't mind? It's like only eleven."

" No, he doesn't. He also said not to come back until I fix things."

" Fix things?"

Jim opened the truck and waited with answering until Blair was sitting next to him. Instead of starting the engine he turned on his seat to look at Blair.

" I'm sorry for snapping at you. I shouldn't have, okay? I'm not even going to pretend that I know what's going on because I don't have a clue. One minute I feel fine, the other I start snapping at you for no reason. The loft is as much your home as it is mine and I have no idea what caused me to say otherwise. I don't care that you invited them over. After all, I wasn't there for you and I guess you could use some company since you'd been just released from the hospital. I should never have let you pressure me to go out with Sam and so I have decided to cancel our date tonight so we can watch the game."

" What? You don't have to-"

" I want to. I mean, we always watch it together. Why should it be different just because I'm going out with someone." Jim said with a smile. Blair returned the smile. Jim felt relieved. Blair accepted his apologies and they were cool… until the next time he screwed up.

" So, we better go back inside since we've sorted it out."

" Are you kidding me? Simon just gave us an extra long lunch. No reason why we shouldn't use it. Besides, that case will still be there when we get back. We'll need a miracle to solve that."

Blair snickered. " Miracles happen."

Jim started the truck and drove off. " Yes, they do." he agreed softly, looking at Blair who caught his look and got a thoughtful expression on his face. Jim just smiled. Blair could draw whatever conclusion he liked because he sure as hell wasn't going to explain what he meant with that comment. Apologizing was hard enough for him, saying he couldn't do it without Blair was too much for one day.

In the shadows of the parking lot, a figure watched. This wasn't supposed to happen. Ellison had to snap at Blair, driving him away which would make it a whole lot easier to get a hold of Sandburg. Why did Blair have to be so damn forgiving? He had to leave Ellison so she could claim Blair as her Guide. Kidnapping him now would be damn foolish. Ellison would have his Guide tracked down before she could say 'it' and considering the length of the word, that meant a lot.

Two weeks and two robberies later, Jim and Blair were making progress on the case while their relationship was very quickly going downhill. Blair had been declared fit for serious work again and since he'd followed up on the case it was only logic that he'd be a part of it. Megan too was still on the case.

After their conversation in the car, Blair had hoped it would go better and it did until Jim went out with Samantha again two days later. The day after the date had been like the day after the first date without the apologizing and making up. It hadn't improved and had gotten impossibly worse. Jim could only snap at Blair which led to a lot of heated arguments and a lot of yelling, both at home and at the bullpen where everyone could follow how they called each other names.

They argued a lot less at home though because Jim was barely ever there. He even had some stuff at Samantha's and Blair wouldn't be surprised that Jim would soon pack all his stuff and leave. The only time they really saw each other was at work and work wasn't very pleasant.

Simon had threatened to split them up several times which both had agreed to at once. The first time Simon had ignored that, thinking it would get better. The second time they agreed with the separation. He'd given it some thought but soon dismissed it. The third time he had to admit to himself it wasn't working between them anymore which had led to the conclusion that they both needed other partners. He had told them that when the case was done, they'd get assigned new partners. Jim had agreed at once while Blair had agreed rather hesitantly.

The bull pen gang was trying not to get involved which was very difficult. They couldn't take seeing the best team they'd ever seen slowly splitting up. They all knew it was about Samantha and Megan along with Simon had decided it was time for an intervention and tell Jim Samantha might be involved. Knowing that wasn't such an easy task, they decided to leave Blair out of it because he could think Blair had brought it up which in fact he had but Blair didn't know they were searching evidence against Samantha.

Too bad they still didn't have any solid prove against her. The hair found at the crime scene had proved to be hers but she'd claimed to have bought something at the jeweler story two days before the break in and Jim had believed her and told everyone to back off which they had since the hair indeed proved nothing. That had been two days ago. The damn tests had taken a hell of a lot of time.

At the other crime scenes, Jim had again picked up the scent of a hospital. Blair and Jim were now checking out all hospital staff as well as patients that had been brought in which proved to be very difficult. They were almost sure it was someone who worked there but they couldn't rule out anything.

" Connor, Ellison, my office!" Simon yelled. It was time for the intervention. Blair didn't even bother to ask if they needed him and continued to work.

" What?" Jim growled as he glanced from Megan to Simon and back. Simon and Megan briefly exchanged a look and Megan decided to get to Simon's side of the desk.

" Jim, I want you to listen to us and listen carefully. You will not interrupt us or I will have you suspended, okay? Your behavior lately is enough to give me a reason. So, you are going to shut up, understood?" Simon demanded more confident then he actually felt. Jim nodded and glared.

" We have strong reasons to believe that Samantha is behind these robberies-"

" What!" Jim exploded.

" Ellison!" Simon yelled furious. His patience with the man was unfortunately running out. Enough was enough. " One more interruption and you will give me your badge and gun and I'm not kidding."

Jim took in his captain and noticed he was indeed dead serious. He didn't sense anything from the uncertainty he'd felt earlier. He only felt anger and lots of it so he nodded.

" The hair found at the crime scene was hers. Remember the blood? Hers too! Don't give me that shit that she'd bought something there. Yes, a good lawyer could say that but we all know it isn't true. Megan did a background check and found out she moved here from Los Angeles a week before the robberies started here. Plus the fact that she works in a hospital. Too many coincidences if you ask me."

" Think about it, Jim. She's got you wrapped up all around her little finger and she doesn't even have to make an effort for it. She somehow put you and Sandy up against each other and you don't even see that. Remember Alex? It's happening all over again and you're too bloody blind to realize it!" Megan finished with her arms crossed and a dark glare on her face.

" Sandburg put you up to this, didn't he? He can't accept the fact that I'm happy!"

" I give up!" Megan said with a frustrated sigh. Her shoulders slumped and she sadly shook her head. " Do what you want, Jim. Mess up your relationship with Sandy but don't come apologizing when you find out we're right. I've given you enough chances but I'm sick of this."

She left with one last sigh. Simon sat down also defeated. Ellison wasn't listening. At this point, he wouldn't even find the truth if it were dancing naked in front of him.

" Go back to work, Ellison." He said with a dismissing wave of the hand. Jim left. He slammed his hands down at Blair's desk. Blair calmly looked up at him.

" What did I do this time? Let me guess, I'm not working hard enough?"

" You put Megan up to checking out Samantha." Jim growled dangerously low.

" I what?" He looked at Megan with a stunned expression. " I didn't have anything to with that!"

" Oh, come on. You can't accept that I'm happy."

Blair laughed humorlessly. " Really, man, at this point I couldn't care less whether you're happy or not. I just want this case solved so I can get another partner. You'll probably be glad to know I found an apartment I can move into next month. Couple of more weeks before you're rid of me for good. Sounds good, huh?"

Reality once again came crashing down on Jim and not for the first time he realized he was acting like an asshole and not only to Blair. He stood up straight and looked around, knowing why he deserved all those glares directed at him. What had triggered it? His behavior of course. Those people were not so long ago good friends and now he was slowly losing them, even Blair, the one person that would never give up on him but Blair had and Jim couldn't blame him.

He replayed the conversation he'd just had with Simon and Megan in his head. They were right. He knew where he'd smelled the hospital scent before and it had been on Samantha. It had been her scent mixed with that of a hospital. How could he have been so blind to that what was right in front of him? She was playing him and doing a brilliant job for that matter. For the first time in two weeks, the truth hit him like a ton of bricks and it became to overwhelming to bare. He saw the ground move closer before darkness closed around him.

Blair became confused and a bit worried when Jim stood up and looked around with an expression of wonder on his face. He send his own glare towards the glaring detectives and they returned to work. He was just about to ask Jim what was going on when he saw Jim go pale and go down a couple of seconds later. Blair thanked God that he didn't hit his head when he hurried over to Jim. The bang had alerted the other detectives who all went from angry to worried. Megan went to get Simon while the others pushed aside some desks to create some space.

Jim woke up several minutes later. Blair's soothing voice penetrated the fog in his brain and he realized his head was laying in Blair's lap. He tried to sit up but Blair pushed him back down.

" Take it easy." Blair said. Jim needed a couple of seconds to process the words. He stared up in Blair's face which for him was upside-down and tried to remember what had happened before he fainted. When his memory returned, he sat up quicker then Blair could prevent and was up on his feet in an instant. His friends were staring worriedly at him from a few feet away. He ignored Simon's 'Are you okay?'

" I'm going to kill that bitch." He muttered to no one in particular and stormed off.

" Jim, what-?" Blair cut his sentence of there and hurried after Jim with a backwards glance at his equally confused co-workers.

" What's going on and who are you going to kill?" Blair asked in the truck as it was obvious Jim wasn't going to share.

" One, Samantha is what's going on and second, Samantha."

" Oh."

" You can say 'I told you so' as soon as I have her ass arrested and thrown in jail. Right now, I'm not in the mood for that just yet."

" Jim, man, you're going to kill us if you don't slow down." Blair warned as he held on to the dashboard when they took a sharp turn to the left. Fortunately for Blair, Jim was a good driver and could barely avoid a car crashing into his side of the truck. " I stand corrected, if you don't slow down, I will get killed!"

Jim didn't bother with an answer and focused on avoiding a tree that suddenly came closer then it should've been. Blair's cell phone rang and Blair answered it.

Simon put the phone on speaker so that the remaining guys (and girl) of the bull pen gang could listen in.

' Sandburg.'

" It's Simon. What's going on?"

' Jim figured out you guys were right about Samantha.' Came Blair's voice. They heard a loud shout coming from Blair. ' Djeezus, man!'

" Blair?"

' Jim is trying to get us killed in traffic. He just drove through a red light and made a big truck hit the brakes before it hit us.' Then Blair's voice became muffled. ' Ellison, give me back that phone!'

' Simon, Jim. I want an arrest team at Samantha's. Thanks.' With that he hung up. It took the people listening a few seconds to recover.

" Well, that arrest team will be you guys. I'm staying here by the phone in case I get a sudden call from the hospital that my two best detectives got themselves nearly killed." Simon said in a dark mood. Megan exchanged a look with Rafe. Jim was so going to get lectured.

" You're staying in the truck!" Jim said as they arrived at the apartment complex where Samantha was living. She rented a nice apartment on the ground floor. It had a small garden. The apartment itself had a bed room, a large living room with kitchen and dinging area and a large bathroom with shower and bath. It was nicely decorated. The walls in her bed room were painted a nice warm red while in her living room the color was more neutral.

" No way!"

" We are **not** arguing about this, Sandburg."

" I am your partner! You cannot order me to stay in the truck!"

" I can if it is for your own safety." The sentence was spoken soft. Blair let out a sigh.

" Fine. Which one is it so I can alert the arrest team about where you are?"

" The third one from the left. Don't follow me, okay?" With that Jim was out of the truck and moved silently to the apartment in question. Blair got out of the truck and leaned against the door, watching Jim who let himself in with his key.

Blair crossed his arms and kept his eyes fixed on the door, praying for Jim to come out soon.

Jim moved silently down the hallway towards the living room. She was standing in the kitchen, he could hear her heartbeat there. It was steady.

" Put your hands up in the air where I can seem them!" Jim yelled when he stormed in with his gun drawn. Samantha turned around calmly and wiped clean the knife she was holding. Her heartbeat remained steady.

" So you've figured it out; huh? About time. I was wondering if the next time I should be more obvious."

" There will be no next time."

" I know, but you will loose your Guide." Samantha spoke, her eyes glistering dangerously. The words took Jim by surprise causing him to lower his gun. Samantha took advantage of that moment and threw the knife at him. It struck Jim in the shoulder. Jim pulled it out. When he tossed it aside, Samantha had reached him and hit him over the head with a vase.

Jim went down for the second time that day and remained on the ground for a couple of seconds tracking Samantha with his hearing.

Blair considered it as a very bad sign when Samantha came running out. Looking around and seeing no sign of the arrest time, he moved forward and drew his gun.

" Freeze!"

The words had no effect on her. She threw herself at him and before Blair realized it, she'd overpowered him and got her hands on the gun. ' So far for my martial arts lessons' Blair thought grimly.

" You are coming with me." Samantha said. Blair got up and was shoved towards a blue car that was parked behind the truck.

" What have you done to Jim?"

" He'll live. Besides you should be worrying about yourself." Samantha sped off.

Jim uttered a loud curse when he saw the car with his Guide in it drive off. He jumped in the and raced after her just as his back up arrived. Megan seeing Jim drive off told Brian to follow him. Brown and Taggart completed the chase.

Now Samantha had three cars on her tail and a chase throughout the city started.

Jim grabbed his cell phone and called Simon. He informed him that Samantha had Blair and that the others were also chasing behind him. Simon told him to keep the line open so he could trace it and send more back up when they'd stopped.

Samantha was a great driver and in half an hour she had managed to loose two cars. The only one on her tail now was Jim.

Blair was starting to get seriously carsick. The woman was driving even faster then Jim ever had and it made his stomach turn. Luckily he hadn't eaten that much that day. The thought of jumping out of the car had briefly crossed his mind but at the speed they were going, it would get him killed. On the other hand, he'd be away from Samantha and Jim could stop his chase. He'd been looking at the truck the entire time. Jim's car seemed no match for Samantha's and everyone knew it, yet Jim was still following although he was having trouble keeping up.

" Finally!" Samantha exclaimed. Blair turned in his seat to look ahead and saw they'd reached the rail way. On their left a train was quickly speeding towards them.

" We're never going to make that!" Blair yelled. Samantha ignored him and pushed the car harder. She drove them safely under the first lowering beam and they flew through the other one, slipping briefly when they hit the ground. Blair didn't particularly care. His heart was still pounding too fast. He'd seen dead storm closer. The train hadn't been that far away from them, he'd seen it coming closer.

His worry for Jim was bigger and he looked back. He was relieved to see Jim hadn't tried to follow them because there'd be no way in hell that he'd make it too. Knowing he was alone, he started to feel scared.

Jim hit the steering wheel in frustration and cursed loudly in every language he knew. He tried to follow Blair's heartbeat but the train storming by was making that impossible without having someone to keep him grounded.

After half a minute which seemed like half an hour, the train had passed by and like expected there was no sigh of Samantha's car. Ahead were several big companies along with empty warehouses. The road there had a lot of turns and was surrounded by a forest which explained why Jim couldn't see the other car anymore. It was about a mile until he'd reach that. Deciding to alert Simon first, he picked up the cell phone with the still open line.

" Simon?"

/ yeah, I'm here./

" She's taken him to that big industry near the rail way."

/ All right, we're coming over. Do not move in alone, got it/

" Yes, sir."

/ I mean it, Ellison. You are not going in alone. You are going to wait for us./

" Of course." Jim said unconvincingly. He heard Simon's sigh and then the captain hung up. Jim started the truck and drove forward. No point in waiting. If he was right, Samantha was a Sentinel. Blair was a Guide. He could do the math.

He tried to listen for Blair's heartbeat but there were a hundred of others and a bunch of machines preventing him from finding Blair's. He drove through the gates and parked his car near the first warehouse which was currently used for stocking of products. Jim guessed Blair had to be in one of the warehouses at the end so he made his way over to the empty warehouses past the enterprises. He kept his hearing open, hoping to catch Blair's heartbeat.

After nearly half an hour of guessing and eliminating, he entered the first empty warehouse he reached. Samantha wouldn't go further then necessary. He had no idea what Samantha wanted from Blair but he intended to find out.

He dared to open up his hearing again and was glad that the sounds of machines and voices weren't so strong anymore. He found Blair's heartbeat in the back room of the building that had once been a company, full of life and probably a whole lot cleaner then it was now.

/ He's here./

/ How did you-? You're a Sentinel! Of course you are. The effect you have on Jim. I should've known./

Jim entered gun drawn and took in the scene in front of him. Blair was tied up to an iron pipe running along the wall. It hung higher then Blair's height so that Blair's arms were stretched painfully in order to keep his feet on the ground. Samantha was holding her gun pointed at the unhappy Guide.

" It's over, Sam. In a matter of minutes, this place will be packed with cops."

" It's simple, Jim. If I can't have him, you can't either."

" He doesn't need me anyway!" Blair interrupted as Jim was thinking of a comeback. He looked up surprised at Blair. Their eyes briefly met and Blair's told him to go along with what he'd just said.

" That's right. You won't punish me by killing him, Sam. I can control my senses perfectly."

Samantha looked from Jim to Blair and back. " No! You need him. I know that!"

" Oh yeah, how can you be so sure?" Blair asked.

" Alex." She said smugly as both Jim's and Blair's expression turned to one of horror. " You probably know I worked at the hospital in LA? Well, I met Alex there. The hospital has an excellent psychiatric wing where I worked for about a year before I came here. One of my patients was Alex and she kept mumbling about Sentinels and Guides. No one believed her, they all thought she was crazy but I knew better so we talked, talked quite a lot actually. I found out quite a lot about the both of you. I knew you two still had issues and I figured it wouldn't be too difficult to separate you two."

" How's that?" Blair asked actually interested. He'd love to know what Alex said about them and their bond.

" Well, Alex told me what effect she had on Jim. Animal lust, those kind of things so I played that one out. Jim fell for me the instant we met and by seeing him more and more, he got under some kind of spell and was fascinated by me. I noticed what effect I had on him and tried to spend as much time with him as possible. And it was working… until your boss interfered that is. I was so close to getting Blair to move out and then it would've been a matter of planning and organizing. No such luck of course."

" Wait, you knew we were coming but you didn't run?" Blair asked confused. Jim couldn't care less about what she had to say and was absolutely fuming. He didn't know why Samantha and Blair couldn't see the smoke coming out of his ears and he was pretty sure that if he opened his mouth, he'd be spitting fire. He ran right into a cleverly put trap and didn't suspect it. Everyone else knew of course.

" Why run? Jim would find me. No, I figured that if I killed you I'd be hurting Jim a lot."

" But you're never going to get our of here alive! Besides, you're a freaking Sentinel. Be creative. You should've left the country." Blair said. He hated to see another Sentinel who was Guideless and pretty much screwed, even if that Sentinel was holding him hostage. He couldn't help it, he was a Guide. He had to guide.

Jim was speechless. Any moment now, Blair would be offering to go with her. That had him so furious that he let out a growl, drawing both Blair's and Samantha's attention.

" You know I could come with you." Blair said, pretty much ignoring Jim. Jim was very close to throwing up his hands in the air in frustration but common sense stopped him from that. No point in letting Samantha see that it was a way to hurt him. Instead he clenched his jaw.

" You could… I'd never hurt you like he did. I would treat you right."

" Oh, for heaven's sake!" Jim exclaimed. " Do I have to remind the both of you that this is all her fault? And why the hell am I arguing about this with you two? Look, it's very simple. We have two options. One, you drop the gun and I arrest you for kidnapping and robbery. Or two, I shoot you. Your choice."

" Ah, the robberies," Samantha said, " Huge mistake, that was. I would've gotten away with this all if I hadn't committed those robberies. I should've stopped when I came here. I had enough money. I got too greedy, I guess."

" You have got exactly three second to drop that gun or I swear to God, I will shoot you."

" You shoot me, I shoot him and no one wins. Go ahead. I'll hear it when the bullet clicks back and have him shot before you shoot me."

As much as Jim hated to admit, she had a point. If he didn't shoot Samantha, she'd shoot Blair. If he did shoot her, same result. He'd loose no matter what, unless he let her go and allow Blair to go with her. No, that wasn't going to happen. If there was even the slightest chance that he could make things right with Blair, he'd take it. He also knew that Blair had every right to go with her. He knew she'd care for him because he'd seen that gentle side of her, even if it was just an act. He was clueless about what to do and he didn't know where Simon and the rest where. He couldn't stretch his hearing without zoning.

Blair for the first time realized the weirdness of the situation. He was tied to up to the wall with Samantha a couple of feet away from him with a gun pointed at his heart while Jim was standing a few feet away from Samantha with a gun pointed at her head. Neither was going to back down and he realized he was going to get shot, no matter what Jim choose… unless he went with Samantha. If he'd go with her, no one would get hurt and he could help a Sentinel in need of guidance.

Then again, he'd be leaving behind Jim and that wasn't an option either. He'd realized with the whole Alex situation that Jim was his sentinel and that he was supposed to help and protect him and only him. But by going with Samantha, he was protecting Jim, wasn't he?

They all just stood there, thinking and waiting for who would break the silence and what would happen. The tension in the room grew with every passing second.

Then Jim and Blair noticed the evil on Samantha's face. Knowing that couldn't be good, Blair prepared for the worst while Jim was praying for a miracle along the lines of back-up arriving at that moment.

" I'll make you a deal. If you shoot me, this all will be over. If you don't, I will shoot Blair." It was a huge risk but a calculated one. Nine chances out of ten, Jim wouldn't shoot her. She knew it, she knew he couldn't, not even if Blair's life depended on it because their attraction was bigger then the attraction between Jim and Blair. Jim and her were drawn together by an inexplicable lust. And from what she knew from Alex, Jim couldn't resist that.

Blair's jaw dropped. They were given an out and yet he saw Jim doubting. It was Alex all over again and Blair knew he couldn't shoot her. That made him angry while at the same time he understood. He felt defeated and just let his weight hang from the wall. It wouldn't be long anymore and then he'd be freed from the nightmare he was living in lately. He lowered his head to look at the ground. He didn't need to see Jim lowering his gun in a sign of defeat. It was nearly over and strangely enough, he felt relieved. He'd had it. His life had become one big lie. If by some miracle he'd get out alive, he'd need to do some soul-searching. He'd need to figure out what kind of life he wanted.

Jim just stood there staring. He saw realization dawn in Blair's eyes before Blair lowered his head. He couldn't shoot her, Blair knew it. He could not hurt another Sentinel, even if it meant losing his Guide. No, he had to shoot her, had to save Blair. He again brought up the gun but just as he was about to pull the trigger, he couldn't. He let the gun drop from his hand and his shoulder's slumped. He heard Blair's heartbeat quicken and felt tears well up in his eyes. Why couldn't he shoot her? Why couldn't he save Blair?

Samantha knew she'd won the battle and the result was as expected. Now she only had to kill Blair and run for it. Jim wouldn't come behind her, he'd be grieving. She raised her gun and pointed it at Blair's heart. She'd preferred to shoot him between the eyes but since his head was down, that was impossible. She removed the safety pin.

A shot rang out. The walls send a loud echo trough the whole room which was painful for even a person with normal hearing.

" NO!" Jim yelled. He looked at Blair but there was no blood, no bullet wound. He was fine. Jim nearly fainted with relief and the urge to shoot some more bullets through Samantha. The female Sentinel was laying dead on the ground, blood seeping from a bullet wound near her temple. But if he hadn't shot her, then who?

Blair was equally confused about the sudden turn of events. He'd heard the bullet but had no felt no pain. Then when he'd looked up, he saw Samantha go down. For a moment he'd thought that Jim had after all shot her but when he looked at the Sentinel, he saw Simon standing in the doorway with a raised gun.

Jim followed Blair's gaze and saw their captain. He looked back at Blair and saw the relief in those blue eyes. The situation sank in and he realized he hadn't been able to shoot her. He'd failed as a cop, as Blair's blessed protector and most importantly, he'd failed as Blair's friend. Even in death Samantha had reached her goal, he was at the edge of losing Blair. Somewhere deep down he knew he might be able to save their friendship if he stayed but his shame made him walk out. He ignored his captain and the others and ran out of the building. Needing to get rid of a whole bunch of frustration and guilt, he started running as fast as he could. He pushed himself harder and further away from Blair, he ran past the truck, past the railway and headed into the forest. He just ran.

Simon lowered his gun and watched as Jim walked past him without even checking to see if Blair was okay.

" Jim?" Simon asked confused. Jim ignored him. After a few feet, he started running and Simon doubted they could stop him. He sighed and looked at Blair who's eyes showed hurt and betrayal. He quickly walked over to Blair and untied him.

" What happened?"

Blair's gaze was still firmly fixed at the door way but eventually Blair met his eyes and answered his question. " He couldn't even shoot her to save my life! She would've killed me and he tossed his gun away."

Blair's voice sounded lost to Simon's ears. He sounded like he'd just lost his best friend and with some fear Simon realized that was exactly what had happened. He awkwardly patted Blair's shoulder, not knowing what to do. The whole room had frozen at Blair's words.

The other Major Crimes detectives stood there staring at each other, each with the same question in their eyes. Why didn't Jim shoot her?

" Are you okay?" Megan asked.

" I'm fine, don't worry." Blair answered smiling reassuringly. ' Not thanks to Jim.' He added.

" There's more to this but I want to tell you that in private. How about you drive me to the station for a statement and I'll fill you in on the things that can't come in it?" Blair said quietly to Simon.

" Okay. Guys, I trust you to clean up this mess here. I am going to take Blair's statement."

They left the building and headed towards the cars which were parked where Jim's was. Simon looked around worried when he saw Jim's truck but no Jim.

" Simon, I've done some thinking and I've decided I'm going to leave Cascade." Blair said as Simon unlocked the car. The captain dropped his keys and stared at his friend in shock.

" And you couldn't have waited to tell me that until we got in the car?" Simon picked up his keys and succeeded in unlocking the door. They got in.

" Why?" Simon asked.

Blair shrugged. " I just need to be away for a while."

" Away from Jim?" Simon guessed.

" For the biggest part, yes. This last year has just been hell actually and I need to figure out what I want. I've been a cop for months now and I like it but I don't know if that is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I don't know if my place is here."

" Of course it is. You have friends here."

" I know but I can't be around Jim now."

" He hasn't been acting like himself these last few weeks. You of all people should understand that."

" It's not just about these last few weeks, Simon. It was Alex all over again and we still have issues about that. We've never talked about it. It just hasn't been the same since Alex. If I belong here, I will be back. If I don't, well, then I won't be back."

" All right. Is there anything I can say to convince you to stay?"

" No."

" Jim's going to break down if he hears this."

" That's not fair, Simon!" Blair exclaimed. He was already starting to feel guilty and he hadn't even left Cascade yet. " I've spend five years caring about him and helping him! And still he doesn't trust me enough to really talk to me when something's wrong. I just can't do this anymore."

Blair sounded so lost that Simon regretted his words. The kid had been only thinking about the Sentinel the last years. He'd seen the kid take blows from criminals as well as from Jim. It was only fair that Bair could take some time for himself.

" You're right. I'm sorry. Let's go to the station, we'll get the statement done and then we can arrange things."

" Good."

Two hours later everything was arranged. Everyone but Jim was at the precinct and had heard the news that Blair was leaving them. They'd all tried to convince him to stay but when they saw they couldn't, they just wished him all the best and made him promise to stay in touch.

Blair said goodbye to everyone and as last reached Simon.

" Good luck, Blair. There will always be a place for you here, okay?"

" Thanks, Simon." Blair said smiling as he briefly hugged the captain. He felt his eyes water as he realized it might be the last time that he saw his friends, the people he'd gotten to know in the past few years and who'd become really close.

" What about Jim? Are you going to say goodbye to him?"

" Yeah. It wouldn't be fair to leave without an explanation although I think he knows well enough. I am going to pack and leave as soon as we've said goodbye. Look, let's not make this harder then this is. I am going to leave now before we start chatting and I decide to change my mind about this."

" Would that be such a bad thing?" Megan asked as she stopped holding back the tears. Blair smiled softly.

" I'll send postcards and e-mails, I promise. You haven't heard the last of me yet."

" Oh damn, here I thought we'd finally gotten rid of you." Joel teased gently. He hated to see the young man leave. He'd changed all of their lives, especially Jim's and Joel had no idea what would happen to Jim now.

Blair laughed. " Not yet, guys, not yet and stop trying to keep me busy."

" I speak for all of us when I say that you're one of the best detectives we've ever had. We hate to see you leave." Simon said.

" Simon…" Blair whined. He was touched by that but if he didn't get out soon he'd change his mind, " I appreciate that but now I'm really going to leave."

Blair shouldered his backpack and headed towards the elevator. He pressed the down button and then turned around to look at the half circle of friends standing by his desk. They all managed a smile but Blair saw tears, even on Simon's face. He couldn't help but grin at that. The elevator reached the Major crime floor and Blair got in. Before the doors closed, he waved one last time before he would disappear out of their lives for a long time.

" I can't believe he's actually going." Megan said as the doors closed.

" He'll be back, trust me. He cares about Jim too much to leave him alone for too long."

" I'm not so sure about that, H. Jim screwed up big time. You know she nearly killed Blair because Jim couldn't shoot her. He dropped his gun." Simon reminded them.

Blair arrived at the loft and noticed there was still no sign of Jim which suited him right. He grabbed some boxes and started stuffing his stuff in them in no particular order. Books were mixed with shirts and socks. He realized he'd never find his stuff in there but he needed to get packed and get his stuff in the car before Jim got home.

Night fell over Cascade and Blair was done. All of his stuff had been loaded into his car and now he could only wait for Jim to show up. Eleven pm became midnight and hours continued to pass. Blair was getting more worried with the minute. Jim had ran off in the forest. What if something had happened? What if he'd zoned or gotten hurt and there was no one around to help him? He started pacing both to sooth his worried mind and to stop from falling asleep.

At a quarter past four, a key finally turned in the lock. ' What a time to say goodbye.' Blair thought but it was now or never. He knew he couldn't wait until the morning because Jim might try to convince him and he wouldn't, no, he couldn't let that happen.

He stood up when Jim entered. The Sentinel looked like shit. His clothes were dirty and his expression was haunted. Determined not to give in to the need to help Jim, he started talking.

" I'm leaving-"

" I know. I saw the boxes in your car," Jim cut in as his threw his keys on the table and hung away his dirty jacket, " If you're worried that I will stop you, I won't."

Blair saw the famous defenses rising at once and knew saying goodbye would be harder then he'd thought. Even though Jim was acting like he didn't give a damn that he was leaving, Blair knew otherwise and Jim knew that he knew.

" I just didn't want to leave without saying goodbye. It wouldn't be fair."

" I understand. Good luck, have fun and goodbye." Jim said, facing away from Blair to grab a beer. He couldn't care less that he was drinking on an empty stomach. He'd be drinking something a hell of a lot stronger if he had something like that. Unfortunately, he didn't so he would settle with beer. He should've seen this coming, yet he hadn't really expected it. He would've thought they would talk about it and move on. Apparently Blair was fed up with him and Jim couldn't blame him.

Blair was getting highly frustrated. This wasn't going like it was supposed to go. Blair felt the anger he had felt since Jim had dropped the gun go away when he realized he wouldn't be going anywhere until he'd convinced Jim that there was a very big chance that he was coming back because in the hours that he had waited for Jim, he'd realized that he'd end up in Cascade again. As much as he hated to admit it, his place was next to his Sentinel. He was Jim's Guide and his destiny was with Jim. He realized that he could save them both a lot of pain by staying but he desperately needed a break, needed some time to think about his life and evaluate the good as well as the bad.

" Jim, talk to me, man."

" What's left to say? I fucked up, you're leaving. End of story." Jim hated the breaking of his voice because it was betraying his feelings. Blair on the other hand, was very glad for that.

" I'm leaving for the sake of our friendship, Jim. I need to calm down. If I stay, things will be hell for the both of us. I need to think about this."

" You know that if it had been someone else holding you hostage, I would've shot that person without hesitating but now I couldn't."

" I know. I unfortunately was there. After Alex, we should've talked about it and study what effect another sentinel has on you."

" It started there, didn't it? This whole mess… it started with the fountain."

" No, it started when I met Alex. But let's not talk about this now, okay? I need to figure all this out by myself because I'm scared that I will say things I'll regret when we talk about it at this moment."

" Well, if it would make you feel better…" Jim trailed off and spread his arms in a sign of surrender.

" It wouldn't. It would only make me feel guilty."

" Will you be back?" Jim asked, fearing the answer. Blair walked closer to Jim and locked eyes with him, wanting to let Jim know that what he was about to say was true.

" Yes, it won't be next week or next month, but I will be back. I promise you that much." He said sincerely. Jim studied him for a moment and then nodded as he accepted what he'd heard. " I'll be taking my laptop and my cell phone with me so I'll stay in touch. If something's wrong with your senses, don't hesitate to call. I'll send regular messages to say I'm okay and I'll be expecting the same from you. I'm also staying in touch with Simon so no lying that you're okay when you're not."

" I can live with that. Just.. you know, be careful and all. And if you get in trouble-"

" You'll be the first to know, yes." Blair interrupted with a smile. Jim's smile was forced and it didn't reach his eyes.

" Take care, Chief."

" Yeah, you too." He reached out to touch Jim' shoulder but before he could, Jim had pulled him into a tight hug.

" I know now is not the time to say sorry, but I really am. I'm sorry for everything that happened the last few weeks and if I could take it all back, I would."

" I know. When I'm gone, I want you to think about everything that has happened too. Keep a journal or something. Get your thoughts together so that we can move on when I come back." Blair said as he carefully pulled away. He needed to leave or he never would. He would've preferred some shouting instead of this because it tore his heart out to see Jim so vulnerable but it gave him hope that they could pick up their friendship when he came back.

" I will. I'll even let you read it if you came back."

" Not if, Jim. **When**." Blair was desperate for Jim to believe him. He needed Jim to understand that he was coming back. Simon had said Jim might break down and he didn't want that to happen although it seemed inevitable at this point. " Promise me you won't do anything stupid while I'm gone. No going in somewhere without back up, no bursting in on hostage situations without someone from Major Crime near you and no heroics stunts. I don't want to have to come back for your funeral."

" I promise, I promise." Jim was glad Blair still cared because he knew he didn't deserve it. The worry lines on Blair's face disappeared.

" Good, well it's time to get going. I'll see you **when** I get back." He made sure to say the when a little louder. Jim nodded.

" I hope you'll find the answers you need." Jim said as Blair reached the door. Blair looked back and nodded. They stared at each other for several seconds, just watching each other and then Blair left. He closed the door softly behind him and walked down the stairs and out of Jim's life.

When Blair looked up at the loft, Jim was standing on the balcony, watching down and standing perfectly still. He nearly choked on the tears that overwhelmed him and didn't bother to hide the fact that he was crying because he knew Jim could see it, smell it and hear it.

/ Goodbye, Jim./ Came Blair's whisper from downstairs. He too allowed the tears to fall freely but he didn't move.

" Goodbye, Blair." Came his strangled answer when Blair drove off in the early morning sun towards a place Jim did not know.

**The end**

**Author's note: **There will be a sequel but you'll have to wait a bit because I have stories to finish in another fandom. Take care!


End file.
